Unusual dual degree reflects student’s two passions

When Shayna Holness graduates from Rider University next year, she will technically receive a science degree from a school of music.

That unusual turn of events is a result of her unusual dual degree, a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in music.

When applying to colleges, the Irvine, Calif., native searched for a place where she could study both, and Westminster Choir College of Rider University was just the place to make it work. She moved to Princeton for her freshman year, commuting between Rider’s two campuses to pursue both of her academic passions.

Now in her fourth year (it will take five to complete the two degrees), Holness is simultaneously preparing a senior recital as well as a baccalaureate honors thesis on unusual protein activity in single-cell organisms. She sings in choirs and receives training in musicianship and applied music on the Princeton campus while conducting hands-on research in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ labs on the Lawrenceville campus.

Music and science “complement each other, but in my studies, they don’t overlap significantly,” Holness says. “As a result, I get a much wider variety of things to do with my mind.”

In the lab, her curiosity drives her. “I really like knowing how things work,” she says. “Biochemistry is the study of how chemistry is employed by life to make organisms what they are, and I like understanding why molecules can make something that is considered life.”

The pursuit of discovery is apparent in what she likes about music, too. “I enjoy getting a piece of music and figuring out how it all fits together with the piano and the other instruments and making sounds convey meaning,” she says. “My favorite part of being a singer is singing in choirs. It’s a great way to interact with other people, a group working toward a common goal.”

In the spring, Holness was one of about 500 students nationwide who received an honorable mention for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program. The program is intended to encourage outstanding college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

Holness is a member of TriBeta, the national honor society affiliated with the American Association for Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. She’s anticipating induction into Gamma Sigma Epsilon, a national chemistry honor society, and participates in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, which aims to increase the number of doctoral applicants and terminal degrees attained by first-generation students and underrepresented groups in graduate school. It also includes financial assistance and faculty-led research.

Upon graduating, Holness will likely pursue a doctorate in either chemical or biochemical engineering. Her ultimate aim is to conduct research. She’s drawn to the idea that she can discover something in the lab that no one else on the planet has figured out. “That’s an exciting idea and an intriguing concept,” she says.

Holness doesn’t see music in her professional future, though she notes that science is not entirely absent in the field. There are, in fact, voice science courses, though the terrain can be quite different from what students explore in biochemistry. “Cells and molecules — those aren’t the kinds of things you’re learning about in voice science,” Holness says.